OTTAWA — He doesn’t remember how old he was the first time he was homeless.

Or the first time he was starving.

Or the first time he was penniless.

Or the first time he threw a punch in frustration — although he thinks it might have been Grade 4.

It all is something of a blur to Jermaine Gabriel, growing up angry in the area known as Chalkfarm, that small stretch of North York high-rises not far from Wilson and Jane. He knows what happened, he knows how it happened, he knows where he came from and how he got to the Grey Cup.

And along the way this football kid, who refused to give in, will start in the defensive backfield of his hometown Argos on Sunday night, a personal tribute of sorts for a story you couldn’t invent.

Jermaine Gabriel (Postmedia)

Gabriel had no father to speak of, was brought up by a poor single mom in one of Toronto’s most troubled neighbourhoods. He studied guns and gangs and violence in his own way, the way some kids his age studied math and science. And he knew this wasn’t the life he aspired to.

He took a most unconventional route in winding up with the Argonauts. After playing football at Cedarbrae Collegiate, there was no scholarship offer awaiting Gabriel. He had to find his own way in football. He went to Bishop’s University in Sherbrooke, Que., as a walk-on, made the team, and starting playing right away.

The football part worked. The rest didn’t.

He was at university and admits now he didn’t buy a single textbook in his two years there. He couldn’t afford any. When there wasn’t team meals to eat, he regularly dined on what he refers to as syrup sandwiches: One piece of bread folded in two. Pancake syrup playing the part of meat and lettuce, mustard and tomatoes.

He left Bishop’s after two seasons because he couldn’t pay tuition anymore and was supposed to transfer to St. Mary’s, but just as he arrived in Halifax, the head coach and the athletic director at the university were fired. It turned out there was no money there for Gabriel, either.

Instead, he took a job at a local mall as a janitor, cleaning tables in a food court. It paid some bills, but it didn’t get him any closer to the football field.

And this is where football took over, at least the community of football. Somebody familiar with Gabriel and his athletic ability was also familiar with a junior football coach in Calgary. Gabriel wound up playing for the Calgary Colts. He hoped at the time, not knowing the rules, that if he played well enough, the local team, the Stampeders, would notice and sign him.

There was only one additional difficulty here. Because he had already played at Bishop’s, he couldn’t go from junior football to the CFL. He had to go through the draft. And with the 17th pick in the 2013 draft, the Argos selected Gabriel, and the celebration began.

Jermaine Gabriel (Postmedia)

“After such a long road, a long journey, to get brought back to Toronto was amazing,” said Gabriel. “As soon as the draft happened, my phone blew up. My mom called as soon as I said hello, she was just screaming in the phone. And my sisters were screaming in the phone. And everybody was screaming in the phone.

“It was such a great feeling to hear all that after all the work I’d done.”

It didn’t come without a cost along the way. Gabriel lost friends, some to prison, some to funeral homes — too many goodbyes for a man so young.

“I always wanted to make something of myself,” said Gabriel. “I’m not lying to you. Growing up was rough. It was a rough lifetime. We were homeless a few times. We lived in a shelter for a little bit. I wasn’t leaving Toronto because of gangs and struggling and all that. It was personal for me, I was trying to find my way out.”

He needed to get out to get back in.

“A lot of kids growing up didn’t have the belief they could get out,” said Gabriel, 27. “It can get to you. They thought there is no way for them. It only takes one to show them the way.

“If I can be that guy, great. I always looked up to professional athletes, knowing I had ability, thinking, ‘Why not me? Why can’t I do it?’ I just focused on that.

“I needed to stay focused. That was challenging sometimes. My goal was, every day, not to stray from my ultimate goal, to make it out. You have some ups and downs, but you have to stay at it. I just wanted to get drafted. I just wanted a chance to play. I thought once I got that, the rest would take care of itself.”

The rest has taken care of itself.

In his fifth CFL season, Gabriel will play in his first Grey Cup on Sunday.

Then he will go home. To the Mississauga home he moved into while preparing for the Eastern final. His new home. Home and settled, finally.